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| Shakespeare on The Snake, Mulholland Highway |
I
like the title I picked, though it’s not altogether accurate unless I were to
tweak what it means to ride a motorcycle, at least in and of itself. Riding for
the sake of riding is tough for me. There is always a personal benefit from the
ride, even if it is a simple ride out, around, and back home.
I
took a little ride today, Saturday, September 6, 2025. These days, that is a
notable accomplishment. For the last three months or so, I have had to resort
to old-time and task management tools to give myself the best chance to stay
current with responsibilities at home, for my father-in-law’s estate, church,
and personal priorities.
On
my three-page tracking sheet, I have a table for weekly activities like home
and estate bills, home and estate yardwork, taking out the trash at both
places, exercise, riding, and writing. Using the Eisenhower Matrix, the two
goals that are at the top and most important to me, but not urgent, are writing
and riding. I want to ride 2-3 times each week and write six days a week. My
stated goals are a little smaller on these to give myself a chance of shading
them green at the end of the week. Even so, they have nearly always been in the
red. I am taking steps to change these goals from red to green. Today’s ride
was a step. For both.
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| An Eisenhower Matrix |
My tracking sheet has a section to track projects with multiple steps and a list of things I plan or need to do during the week to move the projects along and simply keep up with the flow of life. I end up carrying over task items from week to week at about 8-10 per week. Some of the tasks are carried over for multiple weeks. Obviously, these tasks haven’t reached critically urgent status on the Eisenhower Matrix. But they will.
To
meet my riding and writing goals on a more consistent basis, I need to move
them up on the urgency scale. To do that, I need to rearrange priorities and
get rid of tasks that are unimportant and not urgent to me. This won’t be easy
because they are important or urgent for someone close enough to me that I give
them access to my tracking sheet. Another thing I need to do is to complete
some of the more persistent tasks and projects.
Today’s
ride was a relatively short 36.9 miles that took me up Big Tujunga Canyon, over
Angeles Forest Highway to Angeles Crest Highway, down to Foothill Blvd., and on
to home. The ride was comfortable, easy-going, and therapeutic. It was the
first ride in a couple of months that was more than riding to church and taking
a 15-mile route home.
And
the bonus? I’m sitting here writing about the ride.
Keep
the iron side up and ride, for ride’s sake.
Jerry
‘Shakespeare’ White
